The festival will highlight performances by the Finnish Choral Society, the Katrilli Finnish Folk Dancers, Kalevala Trio, and the Evergreen Livakat Kantele Ensemble playing the Finnish national musical instrument. Meri Luoma, Visiting Fulbright Finnish Language and Culture Teaching Assistant at University of Washington, Scandinavian Department will be the guest speaker.

The 43rd Kalevala Festival will especially commemorate two Finnish composers:

Armas Järnefelt (Sibelius’ brother-in-law) year 2019 being the 150th anniversary since his birth, and
Toivo Kuula, who met a tragic death at age 35 in May 1918 in the aftermath of the Finnish Civil War.

Finnish pastries and coffee will be served.

The Kalevala Day tradition goes back to 1835, when the national epic of Finland, the Kalevala, was published for the first time by Elias Lönnrot. The Kalevala played an important part in developing Finland’s national identity and Finnish language, art, and music.